


The art of acceptance

by Vampiricalthorns



Series: Solangelo One-Shots [14]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Fluff, M/M, austitic!will solace, meltdowns, trans!will solace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 03:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampiricalthorns/pseuds/Vampiricalthorns
Summary: Where a lot of mess happens and nobody really knows why. Alternative title: "Nico and Will are cute neurodivergent dorks in love and lots of stuff and happens but it's cute and they have hot chocolate so why not"





	The art of acceptance

There were several ways to describe a person. Some may be called active, lazy, tired, dark-skinned, light-skinned, blue eyes, brown eyes, purple eyes, tall, short, skinny, curvy, curly hair, straight hair, freckles, glasses. These were only some characteristics Nico could think of at the top of his head.

 

Nico di Angelo could describe his boyfriend as loud, bright, happy with sky-blue eyes, tan skin, lots of freckles and always wearing an ace bandage and a lot of bracelets around his left wrist (“The bandage is there to show the younger kids that a bandage isn’t that scary, Nico”) and always looking like he had a cup too much of coffee in the morning- though Will wasn’t actually that much of a coffee person. Oh, and yeah, Will happened to have an anxiety disorder and autism spectrum disorder. No biggie. Until-

 

“Wait, where’s Will?” Nico asked, looking around the infirmary while putting down a boiling hot cup of fruit tea on Will’s desk. It wasn’t as much a desk as it was just a small table and a chair surrounded by medical cabinets and bookshelf. It was usually the place where the people taking the night shift in the infirmary sat, but since Will was in charge, it was just nicknamed “Will’s desk”.

 

Kayla looked around, twisting a red-going-to-green hair strand that had fallen out of a messy bun between her fingers. “Not sure. He might be in the supply closet restocking. We got a new batch of scrubs and ambrosia today, but I think Austin did that earlier. Could you go check on him?”

 

Nico shrugged. “Sure.”

 

Upon further inspection of the infirmary, he found the way to the supply closet. (The only time he had actually been in there was once in the middle of the night when Hazel had accidentally broken a floor mirror and gotten a couple minor cuts. How that had even happened, Nico didn’t even know.)

 

“Will?”

 

Nico pushed open the door, seeing his boyfriend holding a clipboard, looking deep in thought as he counted packs of band-aids (someone had ordered ones with the Little Mermaid and Batman again it seemed)

 

“Oi, Sunshine Boy, can you hear me?” Nico walked up and waved his hand in front of Will’s face, letting a smile slip across his lips when Will looked down at him and placed a kiss on his nose. “Hey there Moonlight, how are you doing?”

 

Nico scrunched his nose up in fake annoyance. “So you can hear me. Good. No, there’s a cup of tea waiting for you on your desk. And I think you forgot we got permission to go visit your mom tonight. You need to get dressed because we leave within the next hour, and no matter how much your mom supports the idea of you being a doctor, I don’t think she would want to see you in scrubs covered in,” He looked at Will’s shirt. “-whatever bodily fluid that is.”

 

Will looked down at his shirt. “Yeah, I will, don’t worry. As for this scrub, I think it will just be safe to throw it away. I don’t think even godly magic can get these stains out. Anyways, I’ll meet you outside the infirmary after I ate, showered and changed.”

 

While talking, Will walked over to his desk and picked up a couple books. “Mind giving these to Annabeth? I borrowed them from Annabeth and haven’t had the chance to return them before now.”

 

Nico frowned and read the titles. “I didn’t know you read … Hunger Games? I didn’t know that was a very medical thing to read.”

 

Will sipped his tea and shrugged. “Night shifts are often slow, and reading is one of the best ways to get through them usually. Besides, I never find time to read apart from the night shifts, so I don’t mind. Besides, it’s translated into Ancient Greek so it’s not a problem to read them.”

 

Nico leant up and pressed a kiss to Will’s cheek. “Go take a shower, Sunflower. I’ll meet ya in an hour. I’ll give these to Annabeth and then go help Piper with something. I’m not sure what it was but it was something.”

 

Will nodded and tried to lean in for a kiss which Nico avoided with a slight smile. “Kisses when you showered, Sunny Boy. No need to make me dirty as well, is it?”

 

Nico grinned and laughed at Will’s half-hearted complaint as he walked out of the infirmary and into the bright sunlight. He started to walk towards the Athena Cabin, keeping his eyes glued to the ground to avoid the sneeze threatening to escape him. It was just a thing his body did. Making him sneeze if he looked directly at the sun for even a second. (No it didn’t happen if he looked directly at Will, even if he was the centre of Nico’s universe)

 

* * *

 

 

“Ready to go, Death Boy?” Will asked, grinning and leaning in for a kiss when Nico approached him an hour later outside the infirmary. Nico hummed and returned the kiss before breaking away to pop a piece of chewing gum into his mouth. “Ready to shadow-travel?”

 

Will nodded. “Yes, I am. Now can I please have a piece too?”

 

Nico handed him a piece, letting Will putting it in his mouth before grabbing his hand and shadow-travelling them away. Nico grimaced slightly, knowing how much Will hated travelling this way because of the sensory input, but it was the fastest way to get to Texas from New York. Will _had_ told him he was willing to shadow-travel because being able to meet his mom once a month or so strongly outweighed the bad feeling shadow-travelling brought.

 

They landed. Hard.

 

Nico sat up and studied his surroundings. They were in the right place, that much he could tell. They had seemingly landed- and fallen onto the gravel, a couple feet away from the Solace residence’s garage. Nico turned and looked at Will, who seemed unharmed, but very upset. No wonder, Nico had just pulled him into literal sensory hell for a couple seconds and then accidentally made them fall when moving out of the darkness. That alone was a lot for a normal demigod- but with Will’s autism-

 

“Hey, Will?” Nico said softly. “Can I help you up?”

 

Will nodded weakly, curled up and crying. Nico offered a hand and slowly helped Will up, hugging him tightly in a hope that the deep pressure would alleviate the bad sensory input the gravel and darkness had brought. Of course, it only did so much, but at least something. “Let’s try to get inside, yeah?”

 

Will nodded again, darting his eyes around in the darkness. Nico knew Wil seriously hated darkness and he knew that Will was hypersensitive to darkness and the cold. So getting Will inside seemed like a good idea just about now.

 

They slowly walked towards the door, it being opened before Nico while Nico reached for the handle. Mrs Solace took one glance at them before bringing them inside. She set Will down on the couch, wrapped a soft blanket around him before bringing Nico into the kitchen so she could make hot chocolate for the two of them.

 

“What happened?” She asked, filling a pot with milk so she could heat it on the stove. “Tell me everything.”

 

Nico sat down at the kitchen table, peeking into the living room where Will was rocking back and forth while chewing on a chewing necklace, shaped like an- alien? Nico couldn’t tell from this distance. He looked back on Mrs Solace, who was stirring the milk.

 

“He was pretty tired already before we shadow-travelled, so that was probably one of the reasons. He really hates the darkness and cold that shadow-travelling brings with it, but it is the quickest way to get from New York to Texas and vice versa. I miscalculated a bit with pulling us out from the shadows, and we landed on the gravel instead of the grass and I think that was the final straw for his sensory input. I think he’s getting better though thankfully. I should go see to him.”

 

Nico got up and walked into the living room again, holding a small tray of chocolate chip cookies Mrs Solace had handed him. He sat down next to Will and started to speak in a soft voice. “How are you feeling, Sunshine?”

 

Will shook his head to signal he couldn’t really talk and Nico nodded. “That’s okay. Your mom is making hot chocolate for us and after that, if you go verbal again, we could maybe play your favourite board game or just go early to bed. It’s all up to you.”

 

Will nodded and held out his arms, allowing Nico to crawl and sit in between his legs. Nico sighed softly and rested his head against Will’s chest, letting Will squeeze him nice and tight. It helped Will tensing his muscles- a type of stimming while letting Nico feel safe and ease his anxiety. Besides, from here, Nico could smell Will’s shampoo and it was really nice.

 

Nico started humming under his breath and he could quite literally hear Will’s smile. After a couple seconds, Will started to hum along with him, and Nico could hear the aftereffects of his violent crying. Nico stopped and turned around. “Do you want me to go see if your mom has any of those throat soother candy things? Your throat sounds like it hurts.”

 

“No, it’s okay.” Will whispered, hugging Nico just a little bit tighter. “Just give it a bit to recover. Just stay with me.”

 

Nico nodded and with all of his willpower he dispelled some of the darkness chilling his body so he was warmer to hug, so he could prove to Will he was okay and in control, that Will had nothing to worry about because they were both safe.

 

* * *

 

 

Later that night, after several cups of hot chocolate, noses covered in whipped cream and two rounds of Monopoly, both of which Nico had won (“I had lots of practice while being stuck in a magical hotel for 70 years, Sunshine”), they were both tucked into the guest bed in Mrs Solace’s house after her insistence that it was too late to travel back now and it really wasn’t necessary to put Will through another round of shadow-travelling right now.

 

“You know how much I love you right?” Will whispered. “I’m so goddamn lucky to have you. Thank you for taking me to visit my mom.”

 

Nico smiled and when Will returned the smile, it was as if the temperature in the room went up a couple degrees. “You say that every single time, Sunshine. And it’s okay. Really. I really don’t mind.”

 

Nico hummed softly and tucked his head under Will’s chin, drifting off to sleep, safely secured in Will’s embrace.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr: https://winglessvampire.tumblr.com/


End file.
